WEBVTT >> AT THAT POINT IN TIME COME ATTHE HEIGHT OF MY ADDICTION I WASTAKING ALMOST 90 PILLS A DAY.30 AT THE MORNING, 30 AT LUNCH,30 AT NIGHT.I GREW UP IN HIGH SCHOOL.I DIDN'T DRINK.I DIDN'T DO DRUGS.I GOT HOOKED UNDER A DOCTOR'SCARE FOR MIGRAINE HEADACHES.>> 38-YEAR-OLD GREG BUFKINSAYS IT STARTS THE SAME WAY FORMOST ADDICTS.>> A ADDICTS, WE ALL USEBECAUSE OF SOME BROKENNESSINSIDE OF US.>> THE BROKENNESS FELT PUT HIMON A 13 YEAR DOWNWARD SPIRAL.IT ALMOST COST HIM HIS LIFE.ONE NIGHT HIS BODY HAD MORE THANIT COULD HANDLE WHEN HE TOOKPILLS LACED WITH FENTANYL ANDXANAX.>> MY DEALER MET ME IN WIGGINS, AND I TOOK THE SAMEAMOUNT OF PILLS AND THEN I TURNLEFT AND THAT IS THE LAST THINGI REMEMBER.ONLY THIS TIME THERE WAS MORETHAN JUST HIS LIFE TO WORRYABOUT.HIS TWO DAUGHTERS WERE IN THEVEHICLE WHEN HE TOPPED OFF ATOVER 100 MILES PER HOUR,OVERDOSING WHILE DRIVING HISDAUGHTERS.AS I JUMPED OUT OF THE CAR,ESTIMATES OF WHAT IS WRONG WITHYOU.HE LOOKED AT ME AND HE SAID I AMCOMBING DOWN.I AM FREAKING OUT.THE LOOK ON HI FACE WAS LIKE ACOMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON.THERE WAS NOTHING THERE.>> ONE OF HIS DAUGHTERS WHO WAS14 AT THE TIME SAYS SHE WASOVERWHELMED WITH FEAR ANDCONFUSION NOT KNOWING WHAT WASWRONG OR WHAT TO DO.THAT 20-MINUTE DRIVE LEFT THEWHOLE FAMILY IN STATE OFCONFUSION BUT ON THE ROAD TORECOVERY.I REMEMBER THE FIRSTVISITATION WHILE HE WAS INREHAB.YOU COULD TELL THAT HE WAS ADIFFERENT PERSON.>> BUFKIN HAS BEEN SOBER FOR ALITTLE OVER A YEAR NOW AND ISDEVOTING THE REST OF HIS LIFE TOMINISTRYTHE FAMILY FORMED EL ROIMINISTRIES TO INFORM THOSESUFFERING THROUGH ADDICTION THATTHERE IS A WAY OUTRECOVERING STARTS BY REALIZING,WHAT HE CALLS, THE FAMILY WIAND FULL TRANSPARENCY.A LOT OF PEOPLE LIKE TO HIDE.I GO AROUND AND TELL PEOPLEABOUT THEM AND PEOPLE CAN SAYMAYBE THERE IS HOPE FOR ME TOO.WE HELP PROVIDE CHRISTIANCOUNSELORS TO HELP THE CHILDREN.THEY SEE ALL KINDS OF HORRIBLETHINGS.I GO BACK TO THAT NIGHT AND IFEEL THAT PAIN IN MY HEA BUTIT ALSO HELPS US TO REFOCUS OUREFFORTS SO THAT OTHER PEOPLEDON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THATEXPERIENCE OR AT LEAST CAN FINDTHE HEALING A LITTLE QUICKERTHAN SHE WAS ABLE TO FIND.>> THE FAMILY WILL ALWAYSREMEMBER THAT TRAUMATIC NIGHT.THE CONSTANT REMINDER HELPS THEMTO MOTIVATE OTHERS WHO MAY BEEXPERIENCING THE STRUGGLES OFADDICTION.IN JACKSON.JENNIFER LOTT.

A Mississippi family will always remember a traumatic night when a relative overdosed on opioids. That constant reminder helps them to motivate others who may be experiencing the struggles of addiction.

“At the height of my addiction, I was taking almost 90 pills a day -- 30 in the morning, 30 at lunch, 30 at night,” Bufkin, with El-Roi Ministries, said. “In high school I was a good student. I didn’t drink. I didn’t do drugs. I tried to live that right life. I got hooked under a doctor’s care for migraine headaches that I had.”

Bufkin said it starts the same for most addicts: Being prescribed an opiate medication as needed for pain, then discovering that pain may be present every day -- whether physical or emotional.

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Greg Bufkin

“All addicts, we all use because of some brokenness inside us,” Bufkin said.

The brokenness felt after his grandmother’s passing put Bufkin on a 13-year downward spiral that cost him marriages, trust and almost his life. One night, Bufkin’s body had more than it could handle when he took pills laced with fentanyl and Xanax.

“My dealer met me in Wiggins. I took the same amount of pills that I normally would have taken when I was using. I turned to take I-49 to go south, and that’s the last thing I remember,” Bufkin said.

Bufkin’s two daughters were in the vehicle when he blacked out, and he topped off at over 100 mph, overdosing while driving his daughters.

“As I jumped out of the car, I just said, ‘What is wrong with you?’ And he said, ‘I’m coming down. I’m freaking out.’ And the look on his face was just like a completely different person, like there was nothing there,” Bufkin’s daughter Harley Olafson said.

One of Bufkin’s daughters, who was 14 at the time, said she was overwhelmed with fear and confusion, not knowing what was wrong or what to do.

The 20-minute drive left the whole family in a state of confusion, but on the road to recovery.

“I remember the first visitation while he was in rehab, and you could tell that he was a different person,” Olafson said.

Bufkin has been sober for a little over a year and is devoting the rest of his life to his ministry, El Roi Ministries, to inform those suffering through addiction that there is a way out. Recovery starts by realizing through what he calls painful transparency.

“And what I mean by that is a lot of people like to hide those broken and ugly parts of themselves. I go around and I tell people about them, so they can say, 'Hey, maybe there's hope for me too,’” Bumpkin said.

El Roi Ministries helps the addict by recognizing their cause of addiction, or brokenness.

“We help provide Christian counselors to help the children because they see all types of horrible things in the midst of addiction,” Bufkin said. “I go back to that night and I feel that pain in my heart, but it also helps us to kind of refocus our effort so that either other people don’t have to go through that experience, or they can at least find the healing a little quicker than she was able to find.”

Opioid overdoses are now responsible for more deaths than from breast cancer, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.